International Jazz Day 2022 - Theme, History, Significance

International Jazz Day 2022 – Theme, History, Significance

Table of Contents

International Jazz Day is an annual event that takes place on April 30th around the world. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization declared it in 2011. Its goal is to emphasise jazz’s role and influence in bringing people from all around the world together. Herbie Hancock, a well-known jazz musician and bandleader, came up with the celebration’s concept.

International Jazz Day, according to the official website, brings communities, schools, artists, historians, scholars, and jazz fans from all over the world together. Jazz developed as a way for oppressed people to express and explore their feelings. Jazz is an international art form recognised for promoting peace, dialogue among cultures, diversity, and respect for human rights and dignity; eradicating discrimination; promoting freedom of expression; fostering gender equality; and reinforcing the role of youth in enacting social change, according to the jazz Day website.

Through education initiatives, concerts, community outreach, radio, television, and streaming, as well as electronic, print, and social media, International Jazz Day has grown into a global movement reaching over two billion people annually on all seven continents, including Antarctica.

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International Jazz Day 2022 – Theme

International Jazz Day, established by the UNESCO General Conference in 2011, is an annual celebration of jazz music that takes place on April 30. Its goal is to create awareness about jazz’s significance as an educational instrument as well as a force for creativity, conversation, and international exchange.

Generates opportunity for mutual understanding and tolerance by breaking down obstacles;
Is a symbol of artistic freedom;
Decreases tensions between individuals, groups, and communities by bringing people together in celebration.
Supports artistic creativity, new forms of expression, and the incorporation of existing music styles into new ones;
Encourages intercultural discussion and inspires young people from underserved communities

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International Jazz Day 2022 – History

In November 2011, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) General Conference declared April 30th as International Jazz Day. The day celebrates the value of jazz and its diplomatic role in bringing people from all around the world together. The day is chaired and led by Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, and Herbie Hancock, legendary jazz pianist and composer. He is the Chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz and a UNESCO Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue. It is a non-profit organization with the goal of promoting and producing the annual event.

Herbie Hancock stated his plan to create an International Day honoring jazz’s diplomatic significance after being named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue on July 22, 2011. UNESCO’s General Conference declared April 30 as International Jazz Day in November 2011, following a favorable recommendation by the 187th Executive Board, recognizing jazz as a “means to develop and increase intercultural exchanges and understanding between cultures for the purpose of mutual comprehension and tolerance.” Although there is no formal relationship between JAM and International Jazz Day, the date of April 30 was recommended to place International Jazz Day as the climax of the Smithsonian Institution’s April Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM).

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International Jazz Day 2022 – Significance

The day brings together a diverse range of communities, schools, artists, historians, scholars, and jazz fans from around the world to commemorate and learn about jazz. It’s also crucial to understand jazz’s origins, future, and significance. It emphasizes the importance of intercultural communication and mutual understanding. It improves worldwide communication and cooperation. Every year on April 30th, International Jazz Day is observed to promote peace, cultural dialogue, diversity, and respect for human rights and dignity. It also aids in the elimination of discrimination, emphasizes freedom of expression, promotes gender equality, and strengthens the role of youth in social change.

Jazz encourages individuals to express themselves freely.
Jazz opens the door to universal understanding and tolerance.
Jazz helps to reduce conflicts between people, groups, and communities.
Jazz not only promotes artistic originality and improvisation.
Jazz also promotes new ways of expressing oneself and the evolution of existing musical genres into new ones.
Jazz empowers youth from underserved communities.

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Facts about Jazz Music

Did you know that jazz music originated in the late 1800s in the African-American neighborhood of New Orleans? ‘America’s Classical Music,’ as jazz is known, is still highly valued.
Seeing a jazz band perform aboard a steamboat as it cruised down the Mississippi River was once commonplace. The 1920s were termed the “Jazz Age” due to the prominence of jazz music during the period.
Alcohol was forbidden in the United States about the same time, so it was sold illegally in speakeasies,’ where Jazz music was more common.